K.A's response to the final book criticsm.

[jsh357]

Yeah, I agree with several recent posters here.  There's no reason Applegate should have made an ending to please her fans with.  It was her decision to take the story where she did.  What, should Shakespeare have made Romeo and Juliet survive in the end?  He could have, but he didn't. 

The entire Animorphs series was pretty dark.  Even the dumb filler books had their dangerous moments--remember the Helmacrons shrinking the characters down to their size?  It's a series about humans, not immortals.  Some of them will probably die, some of them will get their feelings hurt.  I'm a lot more satisfied with the ending than I would have been with "Jack and Cassie got married and Ax was their butler and everyone lived happily ever after." 

Think about how the ending made you feel.  Angry, confused, sad?  The point is, it made you feel an emotion.  It's saying something that Applegate was able to make her readers care enough about the characters that they reacted to the ending this way.  The idea that she should have made it end happily because we were paying for the books is just stupid.  We pay to go see movies too.  In some of them we get attached to characters as well, and they don't always have happy endings.  We weren't paying to tell Applegate what to write for us--we were paying to hear what she had to say.

Now, I'm not saying you had to like the ending.  There are some valid criticisms of it: I for one would have preferred a villain we were used to appearing instead of The One, for instance.  But it was still Applegate's ending to write, not ours.

And honestly, I'm amazed that she had the Animorphs defeating the Yeerks at all.  How realistic was that, seriously?  I'd say she threw the fans a major bone.

[ANItiger13]

The entire Animorphs series was pretty dark.  Even the dumb filler books had their dangerous moments--remember the Helmacrons shrinking the characters down to their size?  It's a series about humans, not immortals.  Some of them will probably die, some of them will get their feelings hurt.  I'm a lot more satisfied with the ending than I would have been with "Jack and Cassie got married and Ax was their butler and everyone lived happily ever after." 

Yeah, that kind of ending in a dark series which became especially dark at the end...sucks. Like Harry Potter, all this darkness ending extremely happily.

[Estelore]

Think about how the ending made you feel.  Angry, confused, sad?  The point is, it made you feel an emotion.  It's saying something that Applegate was able to make her readers care enough about the characters that they reacted to the ending this way.  The idea that she should have made it end happily because we were paying for the books is just stupid.  We pay to go see movies too.  In some of them we get attached to characters as well, and they don't always have happy endings.  We weren't paying to tell Applegate what to write for us--we were paying to hear what she had to say.

Amen to that, brother.

[Nomad Frog]

And honestly, I'm amazed that she had the Animorphs defeating the Yeerks at all.  How realistic was that, seriously?  I'd say she threw the fans a major bone.

Amen to that.  And only one of them died?  Six kids against a whole army of alien invaders and ONE died...how can you complain about that and say she took too much away and the ending ruined it or was 'too realistic'?  realistically -- they would've lasted a week.  Month would be pushing it.  That's why it's a sci-fi series, not a biography.

[Chad32]

in case someone lazily skips....

Dear Animorphs Readers:

    Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending.

    So I thought I'd respond.

    Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones.

    That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start.

    Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war.

    I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war.

    So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

    If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.

    K.A. Applegate

In case, again, anyone lazily skips.

I'm giving you a smiting because you keep pushing this on us. We read it. We still don't accept it.

[morfowt]

in case someone lazily skips....

Dear Animorphs Readers:

    Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending.

    So I thought I'd respond.

    Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones.

    That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start.

    Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war.

    I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war.

    So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

    If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.

    K.A. Applegate

In case, again, anyone lazily skips.

I'm giving you a smiting because you keep pushing this on us. We read it. We still don't accept it.

and I smite you because I see that as unfair smiting.

[Chad32]

in case someone lazily skips....

Dear Animorphs Readers:

    Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending.

    So I thought I'd respond.

    Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones.

    That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start.

    Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war.

    I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war.

    So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

    If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.

    K.A. Applegate

In case, again, anyone lazily skips.

I'm giving you a smiting because you keep pushing this on us. We read it. We still don't accept it.

and I smite you because I see that as unfair smiting.

It's spam. Of course, I spammed at his spamming, so it all comes full turn.

[CounterInstinct]

Hey, its not really spamming, I put in once in every page in case. you know, for convenience, like if someone wants to go back and read it but doesn't want to turn to that page. Anyway... I'm NOT smiting you in retaliation.... I won't stoop to just that just because I'm raising a different POV.

I just thought that repeating it would help the majority.

And who is this "We"?

[Chad32]

Hey, its not really spamming, I put in once in every page in case. you know, for convenience, like if someone wants to go back and read it but doesn't want to turn to that page. Anyway... I'm NOT smiting you in retaliation.... I won't stoop to just that just because I'm raising a different POV.

I just thought that repeating it would help the majority.

And who is this "We"?

I'm sure I'm not the only person who read it, so I put we. I guess once per page might not be that bad.

[CounterInstinct]

Yes, one per page, no more, no less, let's agree on that... 

[Essam 293]

I find it dreadfully appalling that some of you seem to believe it to be the author's 'job' to ENTERTAIN the READERS.

Forgive me for saying so, but that is quite possibly the single most ridiculous thing that I've ever read, and I've read a LOT.

It is YOUR job to try to understand HER. NOT the other way around, fools.
If you believe otherwise, than you are an arse among idiots, heartily-begging-yer-pardon.

It is as though you are telling Michelangelo to put some clothes on David, ordering Picasso to draw a normal-looking face, or demanding that Tchaikovsky take those cannon shots out of his 1812 Overture, because YOU think that it should be that way. Utterly ridiculous. She is an ARTIST, and it is her RIGHT to do WHATEVER-THE-HELL-SHE-WANTS with HER characters. They are her CREATIONS. She has artistic license, and you need to learn to respect that, or you are going to be sorely disappointed for the rest of your life.

I freely admit that I wept my eyes out when Rachel died. I'll tell you right now that I gained MUCH more from that catharsis than I'd have gained from a 'happy ending'. If you expect happily-ever-after from everything that you read, I sorely pity you for being a  Lazy Reader. If you can't contribute emotionally to the art that you observe, what are you gaining from it? It's unconscionable, but unlike being blind and tone-deaf in an opera house, you can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. You have enough of a brain to read this series.

Now USE it.

+1

Well said. I've stopped arguing in these types of threads, because I've stated my opinions more than enough on the matter, but it's nice to know that some else understands this.

[Estelore]

Thank you, Truth. To put it very simply, I am sick and tired of lazy readers who expect to be pleased. They are as bad as high-school students who sit with a vacant look on their faces, expecting the teacher to entertain them.

My own Mum recently read one of my books, and she was angry that it CONTAINED A VILLAIN, because all her romance novels (80% of our publishing industry, for pity's sake!) are peachy and cheerful.

*GAG*

What is this world coming to? I'd rather they all be illiterate than just plain lazy for the sake of instant gratification.

Truth, +1 and high-five!

[ANItiger13]

+1 to both of you.

[Estelore]

Thanks, Ken! Ditto!

[sherrilina]

It took a more serious note once the ghostwriters took over, but I'm not sure why.

I disagree, I think the Animorphs reach their lowest point (besides #54 of course) in #49/50, and that's when KA was back at the reigns....

I like this letter, I think it explains things well--my only objection is that I disagree that Jake/Cassie were "in love during the war"--from the first or second chapter of book 1, before they ever went through that construction site and the war began, Jake makes it clear that he likes Cassie "in that way," and we learn later in MM4 that Cassie reciprocated at that time--so it wasn't like they only fell in love during the war, I think they would have done so regardless....